Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what I will do when Lilly is "school" age. I am very seriously considering homeschooling her and I have already started a preschool schedule with her - which she loves. There are many reasons for this decision, here are a few:
1) I really only have 18 years to be an influence in my daughter's life and if she goes to school for 6-8 hours a day, then I lose a lot of that and her teachers and peers become more of an influence.
2) I don't want to "protect" her in a sense that I don't want her to hear about certain topics, but I want her to hear about those topics from me - evolution, sex, etc.
3) I have realized that she is a kinesthetic learner and she likes to figure things out on her own (if at all possible), so sitting in a classroom having to be quiet and doing worksheets may not be the best way for her to learn.
4) In real life, we do not only interact with people our own age. I think my daughter needs to learn how to treat others all the way around - older and younger.
5) In real life, we do not go from spelling to math to reading, etc. I think learning in themes where everything is related makes much more sense to me. Yes, some things probably need to be taught in isolation, but not to the extent they are in schools.
6) I have the training and I don't necessarily want to go back into the classroom, so why not use the knowledge and skills God has allowed me to have in bringing up and educating my own daughter - the most precious gift the Lord has given me.
I know there have already been a few people to say, "Well, what about socialization?" I know Lilly is an only child, but she interacts with others quite often. In fact, for a while we were going so many places that we had a take a step back and reevaluate which ones were really important. She goes to various church programs about 3 times a week where she interacts with others around her same age, she has play dates with friends about once a week, and she always finds a buddy to play with when we go to the park, pool, or wherever.
Like I said, it isn't definite decision yet but it is one that my husband and I are very strongly considering.
Excellent points here. Especially 3 & 4. As for socialization: I was homeschooled most of my life and I can say that neither I nor my siblings had problems with being social. Yes, people brought that issue up all the time - but we were quite social in our neighborhood and at church. We never lacked for friends, parties, sleepovers, etc. School is not the only social outlet that exists. There are also many homeschool co-ops around that not only provide another avenue for socialization, but also allow older students an opportunity to learn extra-curricular subjects (like music and drama), or delve deeper into subjects like geometry and calculus. There is a lot more out there now than when I was homeschooled - it was still pretty new then.
ReplyDeleteI loved home schooling our children. From what you are describing it sounds like you should look into unit studies.
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